Traps Are Set for Glacier Grizzly Bear That Resisted Bear Spray in Campground

Folks that tried to camp in Glacier National Park's Many Glacier campground over the weekend were informed that the campground is now available for hard-sided camping only. Park spokeswoman Lauren Alley says an undeterred grizzly bear led to the rule change.

"It's a temporary change, so it's not expected to last indefinitely," said Alley, "but this latest one was because a small grizzly bear entered a campsite in Many Glacier on Friday and was not really deterred by bear spray; jumped up on a picnic table, compelled the visitors who were there at that picnic table to move away. For that reason that's why that campground has gone to hard sided only."

Alley says they are trying to catch the bear and that this isn’t the first time they’ve had to change camping rules because of bear behavior.

"A trap has been set for the bear but we haven't caught the bear yet. There have been no additional sightings of the bear, so right now we are just waiting and seeing what happens. This can happen at any campground in terms of having it go to hard-sided only for a period of the summer. We actually see this rather frequently in the Saint Mary campground in the late summer. There's a really nice berry patch near that campground," said Alley.

When the bear invaded the campground on Friday morning, two campers were cleaning fish at their picnic table… the bear then proceeded to try to munch on two backpacks and dig into fire pits. It went on sniffing-up a few tents and an RV all while park rangers tried to shoo it out of the campground.